


Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

by BurningGalaxies



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Family Issues, Gen, Moving On
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 14:24:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19111507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurningGalaxies/pseuds/BurningGalaxies
Summary: They all left home, eventually. This is how it happened.





	Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

**Author's Note:**

> Why yes, this fic IS inspired by Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." I highly recommend listening to it, it really sets the mood.

 

It's the Friday after when Diego drags himself out of bed, cracks his neck, and gets dressed with a put-upon sigh. He doesn't hear Luther's god awful alarm going off yet (always set too early, always set too damn loud), so he knows it has to be sometime even outrageously earlier than that, but...

He frowns, squinting at the rays of light filtering through his window, and then his groggy memory catches up to him and he has to hold on to his bedpost for support.

Right. Their week of mourning.

It's not every day that the umbrella academy gets to sleep in — it's not _any_  day, except their birthday, and earning it is a rarity. But as Diego shrugs off his blazer to start re-dressing into darker, more appropriate clothes, he thinks he'd give up every knife in his possession - scratch that - every knife in the _city_  to avoid this week. The silence in the house will drive him up the wall by lunch, and not one of his siblings will be doing a thing to fill that time either. Not even Luther, the only one besides Diego that elected to continue with training when they went through all this bullshit the first time around with Five.

Diego sighs again as he laces up his boots, staying hunched over with his elbows on his knees as he rubs at his eyes. _What utter bullshit..._

He's quick to wipe at his face and get up again, though, sniffing quietly and clearing his throat. Bigger things to do. No use moping around about it.

That's how he finds himself out in the hallway in the late AM - possibly ten or eleven if the lack of singing and clinking dishes from the kitchen is any indication. All the doors are shut, which in itself is not a surprise except for Klaus, who's probably curled around a couple empty bottles of the expensive alcohol that he didn't think anyone noticed him 'borrowing' the night before.

Diego had noticed.

He passes up on that particular door this morning though because, unlike dear old dad, Diego had learned when to pick his battles.

So no, he passes Klaus' room by and raps his knuckles against Vanya's door instead. "Vanya." He leans against the wall, idly examining the knife at his hip as he waits.

God, what is taking her so long? "Vanya!" The following thud of his fist against the wood is a little louder than he intends, but it if it gets through to her then so be it.

A different door at the end of the hall opens, and Diego tilts his head in that general direction with a raised brow. "What do you want, Allison?"

She's still in her pajamas, and from the glare she's pinning him with, she's probably picked up on the way his sweeping once-over of her reveals just how little he thinks of it. "I should ask you the same question."

Diego shrugs, a rolling gesture that he hopes conveys his usual disregard for her opinion on his business. For anyone's in the house, really. " 'm getting Vanya."

"Yeah, I could hear. What for?"

"What difference does it make, what for?"

Allison scoffs and rolls her eyes, predictably, but doesn't press it further. "Whatever. She left yesterday anyway, genius."

 _Huh_?

Diego must not have heard correctly. "She what now?"

Allison gestures to Vanya's door, then crosses her arms. "She left. Yesterday. If you hadn't been brooding in your room all day, maybe you would have noticed."

At that, he bites thoughtfully at his lower lip and exhales a slow breath through his nose, glancing down at the doorknob. He should make some sort of snarky retort to keep up appearances, but this development is difficult to wrap his head around. Maybe it's just the grief.

"Couldn't handle the funeral, huh?"

Allison shifts, hugging her arms a little closer to her body around her next shrug as she looks away.

Diego scoffs under his breath. "Figures." Like any other televised event that included the umbrella academy, Vanya hadn't been allowed to attend.

But what was so glorious about standing around the courtyard while they erected some inaccurate statue of Ben anyway? She hadn't missed much. Had been there when they all gathered in private to say their piece and spread his ashes, hadn't she? That was all that mattered. But Vanya always took those types of things too seriously.

"I guess she didn't see anything worth staying for anymore." Allison suggests, but there's something bitter there in the way she says it. Diego quirks an eyebrow at her again and she looks up long enough to notice, shaking her head a little and straightening in the doorway.

"I don't know. Go ask her for yourself if you need her so badly."

Diego's about to ask how the hell he's supposed to do that (let alone why he would), but Allison closes the door before he gets the chance, so he settles for gritting his teeth and pushing away from the wall instead.

Fine. Diego didn't want that one book from Ben that bad anyway, it was a waste of time to even ask about it.

And besides, Vanya was always...weird. Nosy. She liked to stand outside his door and stare at him all the time, and probably did the same thing with the others. She stared at people when she thought no one noticed her doing it, too.

Diego had noticed.

He sheathes the knife at his hip with a single, firm motion and turns away from the door without looking back.

Some bridges were better off burned.

 


End file.
